


he's got layers (like an onion)

by biellby



Category: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: 5+1 Things, F/M, Gen, I took one line from FFH and ran with it, POV Outsider, Pre-Spider-Man: Far From Home (Movie), Secret Identity, how MJ figures it out, pre-spideychelle
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-10-12 07:14:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20560337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/biellby/pseuds/biellby
Summary: Something's been up with Peter Parker, and the whole school has noticed. And everyone in the whole school had a theory. Michelle is determined to find the truth, while also figuring out how to make friends and deal with a (totally-not) crush. She only wished she wouldn't have to listen to so many insane theories in the meantime.(Or: 5 times someone didn't figure out Peter is Spider-Man, and 1 time someone did.)





	he's got layers (like an onion)

Michelle doesn't mean to listen in, but she can't quite help it. 

Just like she can't quite help looking at him or taking note of what he was doing or sitting near him at lunch. She's been unwittingly drawn into Peter Parker's orbit ever since high school began, but she is _not_ obsessed with him. 

She's just interested. And judging by the conversation, she isn't the only one. 

"You can't actually believe that Peter knows Tony Stark!" Flash scoffed. They were about to start decathlon practice, and like always, struck up a conversation while waiting for Mr. Harrington to arrive. 

Michelle wasn't sure why she stood in their little circle. She never really participated in their talks, but then again, didn't really participate in practices either. Maybe she just didn't have anywhere better to be. 

Liz looked just as uncomfortable as Michelle felt. The senior was a great leader but certainly more comfortable when their team talks dissolved into extra practice or homework help. She, unlike the rest of them, had a healthy social life regularly exposed to normalcy, so dealing with nerds that possessed as much... intensity as them probably threw her off a bit. "I just don't think we should be talking about a teammate behind their back," she said. 

Flash snorted. "It wouldn't be behind his back if he stayed for practice, would it? I'm just pointing out all the gaping holes in his story! Not my fault Peter ditched before he could defend himself!"

Michelle frowned. She didn't know what to think of Peter's abrupt departure, however predictable it was. While she genuinely believed Peter was an honest and good person, she couldn't deny the facts. The Stark internship explanation - which she couldn't help but feel wasn't meant to get out - just didn't add up, as any noir novel or crime show would say. 

Teenagers didn't get internships at Stark industries. Even if they did, interns worked regular hours. They didn't wait at the beck and call of their employer. An internship didn't require so much time that a student would be forced to quit the rest of their activities, and if it did, why would they do so erratically? Why not quit everything in one fell swoop? 

Cindy chimed in before Michelle was forced to. It would perhaps be the only time she was grateful to be denied the chance to speak her mind, if only because she hadn't made it up yet. 

"Flash is right! Who cares if we talk behind his back? He already stabbed us in ours by up and leaving right when we need him!" 

Her anger ignited that of their other teammates. It looked like they'd have a repeat of lunch, when most of the team threw food at Peter and then interrogated Ned. Thankfully, this time he had left early for a dentist appointment, so he wasn't forced to bear the brunt of it as Peter's best friend. 

"Especially when it's for something so fake," Sally snapped. "Bet you he doesn't even leave his apartment this weekend." 

Charles groaned. "He'll be happily binging Netflix while we drown without a physics guy. Great. There goes our trophy."

Abe hit the bell. It was the first time he hit it angrily instead of comedically. Maybe it had been an accident. "And there goes my strongest extracurricular! I needed the win for college apps." 

As Flash opened his mouth to share another complaint, Liz stepped in, halting the rant before it could derail. "Guys! Did you ever think that Peter might have a good reason for staying behind?"

Cindy laughed. It bordered on hysterical. "And somehow, Flash is right again! You actually bought into his crap about Tony Stark?"

"I didn't 'buy into' anything," Liz said calmly. "I was just as frustrated with him as you all, but when I talked to him today, he seemed really regretful. I don't know if it is an internship, but I do think that we shouldn't push anymore. I think he's got a lot going on, and he just has to figure things out."

"Why the sudden shift in attitude?" Michelle asked, somewhat surprised to find herself talking. 

Liz bit her lip. "It wasn't super sudden. More like a bunch of little things that I pushed aside so I could be angry, then realizing that being angry sucks. His uncle died last year, you know?"

An odd sequitur. Everyone knew Ben Parker had died, if not because of the funeral and community support, then the way the teachers walked on eggshells around Peter for the rest of freshmen year. And Peter himself, red-eyed like he hadn't slept since the shooting, an almost wild gleam in them. 

"So?" Sally asked, bringing Michelle back to reality. "We're supposed to give him a free pass because he's sad? He doesn't seem too torn up anymore."

Liz rolled her eyes. Michelle blinked, taken aback. She always had liked Liz's positive attitude, even if it was a polar opposite to hers. This was the most negativity she'd seen Liz express ever. 

Her voice was hushed, yet frustrated. "His uncle died and now he lives in a single-income household. His aunt's a nurse. That only goes so far. Did you ever think that maybe they can't afford the trip? Or that he might ditch activities to work? He started dropping them after Ben died, didn't he?"

Michelle didn't think anyone else had noticed that. The rest of the team stared, causing Liz to blush. "Look, money used to be tight in my family. I get it. It's embarrassing and touchy, and I might be wrong, so don't bring this up with him, okay? Not like anything we do will change his mind or situation."

With that, she drew away from the circle, awkwardly shuffling her flashcards. The room was silent, a sense of shame hanging in the air. Flash looked baffled by the thought that someone might need to work for money. 

Michelle was intrigued. She was embarrassed to admit that she had never considered money problems as an explanation. As open-minded and aware as she tried to be, sometimes it was very easy to let her own comfortably middle class childhood cloud her judgement. It made sense that the Parkers could be short on cash. 

Mr. Harrington finally entered the room. He started at the silence. "Is everyone okay?" he asked anxiously. 

"Just considering socioeconomic status and the way capitalism inherently supports a class system that only benefits the few," Michelle said. She's found that speaking a blunt truth was often just off-putting enough to halt further questioning. 

Their teacher blinked. "Ah... yes. Good on you. Finding flaws in the system is the first step to fixing it, after all!"

He clapped his hands and gestured to Liz. Practice began. 

Michelle returned to mulling over money problems. It made sense. Peter could have gotten a job and quit activities as he took on more hours. He could have invented the internship to avoid embarrassment. It made sense. 

Something still didn't feel right. Peter wasn't the type to be ashamed of who he was. It was one of the things she liked, _no_, noticed about him. He was the kid who proudly admitted to playing with Legos. 

This was also the kid she may have more than platonic feelings for, she reminded herself. Maybe it didn't feel right because she wanted an easy excuse to keep looking into him. Maybe she just wasn't ready to admit she liked him. 

Not that she did like him. Michelle liked Peter Parker as a person. Potentially a friend. That was all. 

(Of course, she keeps watching him. Just to discover the truth. She watches as Peter returns and disappears again, watches as Flash makes fun of him for everything under the sun except his financial situation, oddly gallant in a way, watches her teammates, _no_, friends nearly die, and watches Peter walk out on Liz. At Homecoming. Maybe he was just a jerk. 

She watches the news and watches Liz leave, and thinks _maybe not_.)

**Author's Note:**

> This is absolutely inspired by MJ's line in FFH when she tells Peter that people think he's a male escort. And that, for all we like to make fun of him for being awful at keeping his secret identity secret, I do think that absolutely no one would look at him and think: yes, he's a superhero. No one would expect a teenager to be Spider-Man, but I do think they would come up with other explanations. I promise, the explanations will only get more ridiculous from here. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
